The Democratic Institute of Kosovo (KDI) held today a roundtable, where was published the research “Endless Roads”, which reveals KDI findings from the monitoring of public procurement with special emphasis on contract management in the Ministry of Infrastructure, for two major projects such as: widening of Prishtinë – Pejë road and Prishtinë – Mitrovicë road.

Fjolla Uka Haxhaj, a researcher from KDI, while presenting the findings of this research, stated that the reasons that influenced the delays in the completion of these two projects were analyzed. “These two projects started in 2007 and 2009. 12 years after and these projects haven’t yet come to an end, and citizens have no information on when more than 50 km of unfinished roads are expected to be finalized”, she said.

According to her, the main reason for the prolongation of works on these two roads was the process of expropriation of private property.

This is because the Ministry of Infrastructure has started construction work without any expropriation completed. The owners of the expropriated properties have, for various reasons, refused to allow the works to be completed without the getting the compensation for the expropriation of the property. Consequently, the completion of the works did not occur in the foreseen time.

According to KDI data, there is only one case where the Ministry of Infrastructure has terminated a contract with a contracting company due to a delay by the company in carrying out works.

On the other hand, KDI has only been notified of a case where a company has sued the ministry for additional costs as a result of failing to secure working conditions.

Also KDI has not come across a plan designed by the Ministry of Infrastructure, which would provide details of the implementation of the project as a whole, for either of these two projects,informed further Uka Haxhaj.

She further added that the phenomenon of annex contracts has been very frequent during the development of these projects. “This has been due to shortcomings in project design but also due to the varying demands of area residents, overpasses, underpasses, etc.,” she said.

Delays in the beginning of works on two concrete segments of these roads (Lumi i Madh – Mitrovicë and Kijevë – Zahaç) have occurred as a result of the delays in securing foreign loans by the Government of Kosovo, to cover the financial cost.

Referring to the nature of the problems and repetition of these problems in these two projects, KDI recommends to the Ministry of Infrastructure to wait for the completion of the expropriation of private property process, to begin with the implementation of the project, in cases when expropriation is necessary.

As the project design and the expropriation plan are important parts of an project, the Ministry of Infrastructure should select the most qualified companies to carry out these tasks and hold them accountable for deficiencies in their products.

In order for the projects to be implemented as planned, the Ministry of Infrastructure should pay greater attention to the contract management process and act when there are project delays.

Above all, the Ministry of Infrastructure must increase transparency and be accountable for its work towards the public.

This report is a product of a public procurement monitoring project in public institutions (MI, MoH, CPA and KEK), funded by the British Embassy in Pristina.